MIDDLETOWN—The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded flood mitigation funding to the City of Middletown in 2014, yet the city is still waiting to see it, according to Middletown Department of Public Works Commissioner Jacob Tawil. “It is just sitting there for us and we haven’t got it,” he said. “It’s been sitting there forever.”
Tawil says everyone is trying their best to get the funding, but “any project the feds are in is just going to take more time.”
The federal funding comes through the state to the Community Development Block Grant program. It’s disaster money that has been re-appropriated for two flood mitigation projects announced in August 2014, according to Mayor Joseph DeStefano. “It was a [Rep.] Maloney initiative,” DeStefano said.
The city has been waiting for the $2.7 million in funding since that announcement. HUD is expected to respond to the city’s application in the next few weeks, said Richard Mayfield, director of the Orange County Community Development Office, whose agency will deliver the funds to the city.
‘Cautiously Optimistic’
In June 2013, after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, and then Superstorm Sandy, Gov. Andrew Cuomo centralized flood infrastructure rebuilding efforts in the Office of Storm Recovery. The agency delivers Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money through the Community Development Block Grant program.
Right now it’s at HUD. “They are going through it doing their due diligence,” Mayfield said. Within the next couple of weeks Mayfield said, “We will be meeting with them directly, and hopefully at that point we can get a clear picture of where we are.”
